7 Common Day Job Skills You Can Use In Your Passion Projects

Your day job and your passion project can seem like oil and water—mutually exclusive, never mixing. Fortunately, that is not true, and having a day job does not necessarily mean lower quality work for your side hustles. In fact, having a day job can contribute to the success of your dreams! Below are 7 common day job skills you can use in your passion projects.

1. Communication Skills

Unless you’re a hermit in a cave, your job will always have some form of communication in one way or another. Whether it’s sending out an email to your supervisor, collaborating with your colleague on a project, or just chatting with an office mate in general, all these activities require you to use your communication skills.

In the same way, your passion projects will need you to communicate with others. Use this in forging new connections, asking for tips, or dealing with clients. The tone may vary, but the essence of the exchange remains the same: getting your thoughts across clearly and effectively.

2. Willingness to learn

One of the day job skills you can use in your passion projects is your willingness to learn. You might even have written this down on your résumé. Even if you’re an expert in a certain field, you can never stop learning. That’s why a lot of companies are incentivizing their employees to take courses to learn new skills or improve on certain tasks.

Being willing to learn and adapt to changes are important traits to have in any job, and you can certainly use these day job skills in your side hustles. Some of you may have chosen to pursue projects that are totally different from your current careers. In that case, you will have to do research and learn new things if you want to be good in that side hustle.

Thankfully, we have a lot of courses offered online at a free or minimal price. You can check out Udemy or Coursera. Try visiting your local library to see if there are free learning courses offered on the subject you want as well!

3. Time Management

Chances are you already have this talent if you’re juggling a side hustle with a day job, but there are always ways to improve. Experience is the best teacher, and having more experience in knowing what to prioritize and what to put on the back burner sharpens your skill in managing your most precious resource—time.

In my previous day job, I was so busy I barely had enough time for myself. There were multiple deadlines and new tasks adding to the pile each day, so the stress levels were through the roof. However, that trained me to focus on the most critical tasks first. It taught me how to work more efficiently in order to do more in the same amount of time.

Now, I am better at managing tasks and taking hold of my time so nothing (not my self-care, not my fitness, and definitely not my passion project) slips through the cracks!

Related: 5 Ways To Be Productive After Your Day Job

4. Presentation Skills

Another one of the day job skills you can use in your passion projects is your presentation skills. This can be in public speaking, crafting presentations, or marketing. Each job will require a bit of this skill even if it’s just reporting about your tasks to your supervisor or teammates.

All those hours putting together Powerpoint slides or speaking in front of a mirror can definitely be put to use in your side hustles. In a way, we will always have to market something—our brand, our skills, or our products. So, developing that confidence in presenting is definitely a day job skill you can use in your passion projects.

5. Creativity

We all know what happened to Kodak and Nokia. They got too complacent with their success and failed to innovate. This is why most companies are always seeking for new ways to evolve and get better. Creativity plays a large part in this, and your day job employer will most likely encourage you to think outside the box.

Grab that chance to hone your innovative thinking and it might just lead to more ideas for your dream job! For example, if you’re working in human resources, you might need to think of new ways to build camaraderie outside of the usual team building activities. Thinking of different virtual activities can lead you to use those ideas in your coaching classes (if you’re a life coach on the side). The important thing is to let those creative juices flow, so you take that mindset with you even in your side hustles!

6. Initiative

“I’m a self-starter.” That’s one of the most common skills you see in job pitches, and something that’s valuable in all jobs. Especially now when most of us are working from home, it’s important to take the initiative in doing your assigned tasks even without being prompted to.

This is another day job skill you can use in your passion projects. At the start, you will most likely be a one-man team who has to do everything. If you don’t have initiative, moving forward will be difficult, since no one will be telling you what to do or which way to go. Apply that get-go attitude from your day job to your side hustles to move forward!

7. Job-specific skills

No matter what your day job is, you will obtain technical skills that will be useful in your side hustles. For example, if you’re an architect and want to be a graphic designer, you can use your knowledge in 3d programs and editing software to start. If you’re a teacher, you can use your teaching skills to write instructional posts on your DIY blog. You get the drift.

Even if you think your day job is the exact opposite of your passion project, there will always be job-specific skills that you can apply to it. So don’t put those coding, transcribing, or public speaking skills to waste and find a way to incorporate them in your side hustles!

Use day job skills in your passion projects

Don’t hate on your day job. Even though the main reason you’re keeping it is probably for financial security, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything from it. Apply all that time and opportunity in your day job to build skills you can use in your passion projects.

The key is to develop a mindset where no experience is useless. If you are always improving yourself and giving your best, not only will you excel in your day job, but in your side hustles as well!

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